Two new player questions.

First: Do the ability of Thalin to deal 1 wound to each enemy that is revealed during the questing phase if Thalin was commited to a quest stops the Surge ability of the eastern crows enemy card?I say this because when the crows are revealed Thalin deals them 1 wound which is enough to kill them before the Surge takes place.Am I right?

Second; Do the defense of a character or enemy reduce the damage taken by an ability or card effect?For example:if I use Gandalf's ability to deal 4 damage to an enemy are those damage reduced by the defense of the enemy?What about heroes taking damage outside of combat?Do they reduce the damage by their defense rating?

Thanks in advance!

MoonShadow said:

thalin kills crows before surge

no, damage is damage, it doesnt take defense into account -so 4 damage to goblin sniper is the same as 4 damage to hill troll

rich

Beaten!

1) In the FAQ, it states "When an enemy card is revealed from the encounter deck, Thalin’s ability resolves before any keyword or 'When Revealed' card effects on the encounter card." This means that yes, Thalin's ability would kill the Eastern Crows BEFORE their Surge resolves, so you would not reveal an extra encounter card.

2) MoonShadow is completely right. Defense strength only reduces damage that would be taken from combat, i.e., defending against a Hill Troll.

Gandalf would deal 4 damage to any enemy, whether it is a mighty Hill Troll, or the lowly Eastern Crows. Likewise, the "When Revealed" effect of Dol Goldur Orcs would deal 2 damage to any character, regardless of their Defense - Denethor with a Defense of 3 would take just as much damage as Legolas, with a Defense of 1.

In a related note, I always seem to forget... do the crows still get shuffled back into the deck or are they discarded?

Svenn said:

i would say back in....i still think they were deafeted

The Eastern Crows would indeed be defeated, and therefore shuffled back into the encounter deck. Page 20 of the rulebook states, "Each damage token on a hero, ally, or enemy card reduces that card's hit points by 1... any time one of these cards has 0 hit points, it is immediately defeated."